50k Indian Salt Farmers lose out to Industrial Salt Producers

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Iodised salt makes them beggars

50,000 salt farmers lose occupation

By Debasis Tripathy

 

WHILE the Congress-sponsored so-called `Dandi yatra' is being

observed in the memory of the historic salt satyagraha of 1930, the

poor salt farmers of Orissa are dying out of starvation.

 

Krishna Manna (75), a native salt farmer of Jagatsinghpur district,

recollects the memory of his past days, thus: "What I did not have! I

was blessed by a beautiful family, cupboards were full of grains,

family was comprised of two sons and wife and I did not know what

starvation was. The two sons assisted in my business. They were

producing quintals of salt, which was in great demand in the local

market as also in the markets of distant places like West Bengal and

Bangladesh. Those were joyful days for me, i.e. about four to five

years ago. But now things are quite different. My ancestral business

has gone, salt-cultivating lands remain barren. Two sons have left

home in search of work. Wife is sick but I don't have a single paise

for her medical treatment."

 

This is the plight of not only Krishna, but of more than 50,000 salt

farmers like him who are suffering from this scourge. The faulty

policy of the blind administration has dragged them to the footpath.

 

According to sources, the farmers of the coastal belt of districts

like Kendrapara. Jagatsinghpur, Berhampur, Puri and Balasore are

mostly salt cultivators, who earn their daily bread by producing salt

from the saline waters of Bay of Bengal. As it is their traditional

occupation, this has been their sole lifeline from ages. But

unfortunately, they are losing their profession as the machine-

cultured iodised salts produced by big plants is supported by the

government. The state government has imposed ban on purchase and sale

of native raw salt in and around these districts. Consumers are being

motivated through expensive and colourful advertisements to consume

iodised salt for which the raw salt of the native farmers remains

unsold causing greater economic hardships to them. In order to

recover the cost of production, the poor farmers are forced to sell

their product at a nominal price of at Rs 1.50 p. to Rs 2.00 per kg

to the so-called iodised salt-producing companies, which send it to

the market as a finished product, to be sold at Rs 4 to 6 per kg.

This exploitation by the big companies has made the salt farmer beg

in the streets forcing them to give up their profession. Many salt

farmers have left their birthplaces in search of work in different

industrial centres such as Surat, Mumbai, etc. while others are

working as day labourers in the villages.

 

"The government should reconsider its decision on this faulty and

illegal policy soon before it takes the form of a revolution," warns

Shri Mohini Mohan Mishra, organising secretary of Bharatiya Kisan

Sangh.